US

US approves long-delayed $23bn sale of F-16 warplanes to Turkey

Approval comes after Turkey announced support for Sweden’s membership of Nato

The deal, which will allow Turkey to purchase as many as 40 Lockheed Martin F-16s and nearly 80 modernisation kits, has been stuck for months. Photograph: iStock

Iain Marlow
Sat Jan 27 2024 - 08:00

The US state department said Friday night that it had approved the long-delayed sale of F-16 warplanes to Turkey in a delicately orchestrated arrangement with Ankara supporting Sweden’s membership in the North Atlantic Treaty Organisation (Nato).

The formal US government approval on Friday came two days after president Joe Biden sent a letter to congressional lawmakers urging them to approve the sale, valued at as much as $23 billion (€21.1 billion), which Turkey had sought since 2021.

The deal, which will allow Turkey to purchase as many as 40 Lockheed Martin F-16s and nearly 80 modernisation kits, has been stuck for months.

The state department said in a separate announcement that Greece would be allowed to buy as many as 40 F-35 fighters in a deal valued at up to $8.6 billion.

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Greece and Turkey, though both members of Nato, have long been regional rivals and their governments recently signed an agreement to foster “friendly relations” after generations of acrimony.

“The proposed sale will allow Greece to modernise its air force and improve Greece’s ability to provide for the defence of its airspace, contribute to Nato missions to preserve regional security and defend Nato allies,” the department said.

Both Finland and Sweden had applied to join Nato after president Vladimir Putin’s invasion of Ukraine heightened anxieties among Russia’s neighbours.

Yet, while Finland has joined, Sweden’s bid languished after president Recep Tayyip Erdogan insisted Stockholm do more to crack down on supporters of separatist groups outlawed in Turkey.

[ Security an increasing focus for Baltic region as Sweden moves step closer to Nato membership ]

Biden explicitly made Turkey’s approval of Sweden’s Nato membership a prerequisite for the sale of the F-16 jets and Erdogan has also linked the issues.

Hungarian prime minister Viktor Orban had also opposed Sweden’s entry into Nato, but this week he said the country would ratify the accession and that he would urge parliament to do so “at the first possible opportunity,” according to the leader’s post on X.

Orban commented after speaking with Nato’s secretary general Jens Stoltenberg on Wednesday, a day after Turkey’s parliamentary ratification left Hungary as the last holdout on the military alliance’s expansion.

The US Defence Security Cooperation Agency, which is part of the department of defence and assists allies on military-related matters, said in a statement on Friday night that it had “delivered the required certification notifying Congress of this possible sale today.” – Bloomberg

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